Edible fat based, flavoured fat systems suitable for use in baked goods and snacks are known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,945 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,643 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,735. From these documents butter based fat flakes are disclosed in U.S. '945. These flakes are free of sugar and contain a lot of predried butter fat and high contents of dried milk solids. Particulars of the fats that can be applied are not given, all that is said about the nature of the fats that can be applied is that they are related to butter fat. According to U.S. '643 cheese based flakes can be obtained along lines that are very similar to the lines set out above for U.S. '945. These flakes contain high levels of dried cheese solids while the fats that can be applied are the same or very similar to the fats according to above U.S. '945. According to U.S. '735 cinnamon based flakes can be obtained that contain large amounts of granulated sugar while the fat is again a butter fat or a fat, closely related to butter fat.
The processing of the flakes in all three above US documents is very complicated and require a tempering step which is costly and difficult to perform in practise. We therefore performed a study to find out whether we could find compositions for the flakes, in particular for the fat in the flakes that would enable an easier processing. During this study we found that one of the main problems related with the use of butter fat or butter fat related fats is the slow crystallisation rate of the fats. Because of this slow crystallisation rate a tempering step had to be used. We found that if the fats display a (Crystal-5)-value of at least 40%, (crystal-5 being the amount of crystallised fat, obtained after cooling the fat to 20.degree. C. for 5 minutes) and have a specific ratio between Crystal-5 and its N.sub.20 -value this tempering can be avoided and improved products can be obtained in a shorter time while using easier processing. Simultaneously our novel bakery products, made from these flakes, displayed an excellent snap.
GB 2 176 143 discloses fat flakes or fat granules, wherein the fat applied is selected from margarine, butter or lard (p.1,1.13-14). These flakes are used for cooking purposes and not as an ingredient for the preparation of bakery products, wherein the flakes must give a good flavour boost and must provide the bakery products with a good snap. As margarine and butter are fat emulsions containing about 20 wt % of water the use thereof in flakes that contain sugars is very limited because the sugars will be dissolved in the water phase of the fat emulsion and cannot contribute to the flavour boost nor to the snap of the products. Moreover the use of butter also has the drawbacks set out above. Lard is a fat that is relatively soft and has a low crystal-5 value, therefore the use thereof in flakes will lead to unacceptable products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,588 concerns with the use of fats with at least 40% polyunsaturated fatty acids for margarines. Nothing is disclosed about the use of these fats in fat flakes for bakery applications that are supposed to provide a flavour boost and a snap. Moreover the fats according to this document have relatively high trans contents that we prefer to avoid.